Phobia

While driving with his wife Jane (Sarah Schoofs), Jonathan MacKinlay (Michael Jefferson) has a car accident and Jane dies before the arrival of the ambulance. One year later, Jonathan has become agoraphobic and stays trapped at his home, working in the transcription of speeches to the justice department. He is only visited by his best friend Taylor (Andrew Ruth), basically the only person that sees him, and eventually by his psychiatrist Dr. Edmondson (Peter Gregus). Taylor tells him that the delivery boy Greg will be replaced by the delivery woman Bree (Emma Dubery), who will bring his groceries. Out of the blue, Jonathan is haunted by Jane, by an invader and by a woman in black that insists to say that everyone dies. Meanwhile, Bree and Jonathan become closer and have one night stand. But Jonathan is losing his sanity with apparitions and questions himself whether they are real or not.

"Alone" (2013) is an extremely low-budget horror movie that has a reasonable beginning introducing the agoraphobic Jonathan and the reason why he was affected. However, by the middle of the story, the plot becomes repetitive and not clear, insinuating that Jonathan killed his beloved Jane, and ending very confused. Is Jonathan insane or has also guilty complex and why is he haunted by Jane? In the end, "Alone" is a boring, messy and amateurish movie. My vote is two.

Title (Brazil): "Phobia"

Horrible acting. Stilted. Bad editing makes for that clumsy amateur film dialogue pace. But a low budget isn't a reason to put a film down. I believe it's the inspiration -- what the story is trying to say -- that should be the yardstick used to measure a movie's worth.

The story isn't good.

One guy in a house. That's all you get. No, it's not profound an it certainly isn't the kind of mindbending storyline the writer thought.

It's just a cheap, amateur school project.

Avoid.

I had a chance to see this film as part of a film festival that I was judging in January of 2015. I am not sure what the other "reviewers" were talking about, but they seem to not realize what indie filmmaking is all about. There are no multi-million dollar budgets or elaborate sets. You work within your limitations.

I found this to be an enjoyable film, that works within its budget limitations quite well. Yes, 99% of the film takes place within a single set, namely the main character's house. I personally think the director, Rory Abel and the DP did a great job, as it much have been very challenging to film an entire movie in the same confined space. At the same time, it gave the viewer a sense of what was going on inside the main character's mind, making us feel as trapped as he must have felt. The whole point of the film is that he is trapped in his home because of mental illness, so if you don't understand why the whole movie takes place in his house, you are missing the point entirely.

I thought the acting was satisfactory, especially Michael Jefferson in the lead role. We really got to see this guy unravel in the wake of his wife's death. Survivor guilt is the main theme, and we witness the toll it takes on his psyche. I personally liked how it became difficult to figure out what was real and what was not as the film progressed, which again, mimics what might be going on inside the mind of someone going through a serious mental illness.

The wife and girlfriend characters were very good as well, but, if I am being completely honest, the "best friend" character was a little weak and more of a distraction that I would have liked, but that is a very minor complaint.

Overall, I thought that was a very good indie film. I thought the acting, writing and direction were all up to snuff. Again, being fair, there are times when it slows down and drags a bit but this is another very minor complaint, and there is no such thing as a perfect film.

If you have a chance to see "Phobia", you should.

I thought this movie became basically unwatchable at the half way point. It must not have been expensive to shoot because it all seemed to take place within an apartment or brownstone type of dwelling typically found in any larger cities in North America. The plot line because scattered at the half way point and I became bored with it and stopped watching it, I like my movies to make a certain amount of sense and this 'its all been a bad dream' stuff doesn't work for me. It's like they couldn't come up with a plot but they started shooting anyway and thought that somehow an idea would come to mind to enable them to finish there movie. Acting was OK maybe a bit amateurish but if the plot is good that doesn't matter. The poorer plot makes it matter more. Ho hum fare that isn't really much for horror fans or thriller fans. On the level of a student movie.A maybe not so excellent student movie.